Falling For Him
by acatm
Summary: Brief snippets of the blooming relationship between Lily Evans and James Potter during their seventh year at Hogwarts.
1. Beginnings

"Things are going to be different this year," Lily thought as she crossed through the wall to Platform 9 3/4 for her 7th and final year at Hogwarts. She felt she had everything going for her. Thinking on this she reached in the pocket of her worn jeans and smiled softly when she felt the smooth edge of the shiny Head Girl badge that was in there for safekeeping. The summer had been fabulous. Having come of age, in the wizarding world at least, in January of her sixth year she was finally able to use magic at home. It had helped when Petunia was miserable to her she could simply whip out her wand. She didn't even have to threaten to perform some bit of magic. Petunia's eyes would go big and she would run out of the room while trying not to turn her back on Lily before Lily could utter another word. If she still wasn't so sad that it seemed like her and her sister would never be the friends they once were, Lily would have found Petunia's reaction quite hilarious. Her parents, on the other hand, were completely thrilled. As Lily performed small spells around the house to help them out they couldn't have been happier. She had, in fact, not had a care in the world except for a strange recurring dream with her and James Potter of all people.

She sighed as her eyebrows came together and she began to chew on her lip as she reminded herself of those dreams. She never could quite remember what they were about when she woke up. Every so often she thought she could envision bits and pieces of them, but the more she thought on it the more she only remembered flashes of colors. His jet black hair that never seemed to stay combed or his brilliant blue eyes, flashing with some deeper undecipherable meaning. She shook her head to get rid of the picture she had started to make in her head and flushed slightly.

It wasn't that she despised James Potter as much as she once had. In fact, the year before the two had gotten on rather amicably. Lily had mellowed a lot since that fateful day by the lake in 5th year. After she had passed her OWLs with flying colors and gotten into all of the NEWT level classes she wished, she decided to loosen up and have a bit more fun with her spare time. James seemed to have finally taken the hint and stopped asking her out incessantly at every turn and Lily was thrilled. She had always been friendly with her fellow Gryffindor prefect Remus Lupin and now that she didn't want to pummel his friends every time they hung out, Lily found herself spending more and more time with The Marauders, as they had named themselves and found that she didn't mind this as much as she had once thought. They were, in fact, quite an amusing bunch when you got right down to it and she had realized that the majority of their pranks were pretty funny and not as cruel as she had imagined them to be.

She was quite looking forward to seeing them again, she reasoned, as she stared out the window in the Head's compartment. The train was just beginning to roll as Lily waited for the Head Boy to show up so they could begin discussing the introductory prefect meeting that would begin in the next hour.

"I wonder who it will be?" she murmured as she watched the trees outside the train start to pick up speed and blur.


	2. The Head Boy

Lily jerked her head up as she heard the compartment door start to slide open. She really wished Dumbledore and just written who the other head was in his congratulatory note that had been sent with her badge several weeks ago but Dumbledore, being Dumbledore, seemed to thrive on making his students edgy over nothing and so here it was, September 1st, and Lily was about to find out who she would be working with for the year.

A tall, lean and muscular boy walked through and she recognized his right away. How could she not? His jet black hair gleamed slightly as he ran his hands through the back and nervously pushed his glasses up on his nose. He stood there, shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he waited for her to say something but Lily seemed incapable of speech at the moment. Her mouth had dropped and all she could was stare while spluttering incoherent sounds of surprise.

"Hey," James said simply when she showed no signs of saying any actual words.

This seemed to break the spell as Lily exclaimed, "James? _You__'__re_ the new Head Boy?"

"Heh, yeah I guess so." He chuckled nervously. "Knew you would get Head Girl. Congrats."

"Oh, well, I, uh," she sputtered for a moment before sticking to, "Well congratulations to you too Potter."

_Well__it__could__be__worse_, Lily thought to herself as she and James started to plan their first meeting as co-heads.


	3. Falling For Him

The months passed steadily for Lily as she created and stuck to her daily routine. One of the perks of being Head Girl included a separate common room and dormitory for both heads. After getting over the initial shock of sharing something as intimate as a living space with her former enemy she found she quite enjoyed it. There was something nice about having her own room where it was always quiet and she could study or read or simply sit and think to her heart's content. Their common room was decorated in lovely red and gold's, with each student having their own desk as well as a couple of squashy couches and chairs surrounding a beautiful fireplace. Up the stairs to the left was James' room, which Lily had never seen, and to the right was her own. She marveled at the loveliness inside every time she went up.

She even found James' company more and more appealing as the year went on. She couldn't remember a time when she had laughed more than when they were sneaking down to the kitchens for a snack after patrols or just sitting next to the fire working on homework and chatting. And she found he could be serious too. Like when he found her balled up on the couch crying because of a particularly hurtful letter from Petunia saying in no uncertain terms that she was getting married and had no need for her "freak" of a sister to be present. James didn't say anything but pulled her into his strong arms, holding her and murmuring comforting words while letting her soak his shirt with tears. They didn't talk much about that night but Lily could never forget the way she melded into his shape and immediately felt better. His scent became so comforting that she started unconsciously scooting closer to him all the time, and then would flush bright red when she realized what she was doing and get up hurriedly making some lame excuse and running off.

It was of one of these moments that Lily was thinking on as she sat in the head's common room quietly reading her advanced potions book and making notes in the margins. Truthfully, she wasn't getting very far as her mind kept wandering to a certain black haired fellow. She should have gone to bed hours ago but she couldn't help the nagging feeling of wanting to see him before she slept. _Pitiful_, she reprimanded herself sternly but made no move to leave. James was out late running around with his friends and though Lily knew the exact reasons why he was out after curfew during this, the night of the full moon, it still worried her slightly. Lily smiled remembering how she had approached James after one such night and he had told her everything yet still managed to leave out Remus' secret as that was not his secret to be telling. Lily had figured that part out on her own, and once confronted, Remus had told her the rest that she needed to know.

So it was on James and his bravery and loyal devotion to his friends that Lily was thinking about when James returned tired but happy from his excursion. Lily had given up the pretense of her book and had let it fall to the ground as she sat with her back and eyes closed so lost in thought that she didn't hear the footsteps and the quiet and longing sigh that signaled James' approach.

"Lily?" James whispered, gently resting his hand on her shoulder, thinking she must have fallen asleep while doing homework.

"Hey." Lily opened her eyes with a smile on her face as she looked up into James' face. There was that brilliant blue again only instead of swimming on the surface of her eyelids here it was for real more beautiful then she could have ever imagined.

"What are you doing still up silly?" James shook his head with an amused expression. After all Lily was the one who was always telling him how important it was to get enough sleep before a full day of classes.

Lily shrugged nonchalantly and patted the cushion next to her on the couch signaling him to sit next to her.

"James?" She looked serious for a moment but didn't continue prompting James to reply, "Yes, Lily?"

"I have a problem."

"What is it? Do you want to talk about it?" James' eyes flashed with worry.

"See…the thing is that I've recently come to the conclusion that I like this guy but I don't think he likes me back. Oh maybe he did once but not anymore." She frowned a little.

James felt like he'd been punched in the gut. On the one hand he wanted Lily to be with whoever she wanted to be and if someone was hurting her like this all he wanted to do was curse them so badly that they would never recover. But on the other hand it hurt him to talk about this kind of thing with Lily. Sure they were friends but he had never gotten over his love for her, only putting it away and settling for the friend's position.

"I don't even see how that's possible. Who wouldn't want to be with you? I can't think of anyone who would stop liking you." He managed to get out, though it was impossible to mask the hurt mixed with longing in his eyes.

Lily didn't say anything more but carefully leaned over and buried her face in James' shirt covering his well chiseled chest. He automatically embraced her and gave her a hug. She mumbled something he couldn't understand. "What?"

"Why don't you ask me out anymore James?" She leaned away, now getting indignant and folding her arms across her chest.

James, being too shocked to do much else, let his arms drop and stared at her. Shock, Hope, and wonder all passed across his face before he settled on confusion. "I…I thought…well…I didn't…I thought you didn't want me to." He finished lamely, looking at his feet.

"James?" Lily questioned putting one finger under his chin and lifting it until he could see into her emerald green eyes.

She didn't say anything more but leaned in and slowly covered his mouth with her own.

When she pulled back she looked at him sheepishly, but with an amused expression on her face as she looked at him. His lips were still slightly parted, breathing heavily, his eyes wide open. He waited a moment then inspiration struck him. He grabbed her hands and held them gently, then looking in her eyes he said softly and tenderly, "Lily? Will you go out with me?"

She nodded, now feeling more shy.

That was all James needed. He scooped Lily up in a warm embrace, kissing her enthusiastically, never wanting to let go.

Several hours later they were still on the couch, Lily let out a contented sigh, her head resting comfortably against James' chest. She felt James' silent chuckle and looked up to find him smiling down at her. "Let's skip classes tomorrow," Lily said with determination but also a slight hint of amusement. James only nodded with a grin showing wide on his face. The two sat comfortably enjoying the silence and fell asleep wrapped in one another's arms as the fireplace crackled and popped.


End file.
